Cite this article Research Article

Stockhusen K, Paech C, Sima F et al. Paper 2200236

The engineering legacy of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM: Al Bayt Stadium. Received 19/12/2022;
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Structures and Buildings, Accepted 06/02/2024;
https://doi.org/10.1680/jstbu.22.00236 First published online 01/03/2024

Published with permission by Emerald Publishing Limited under the CC-BY 4.0 license.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Structures and Buildings

The engineering legacy of the FIFA World Cup

Qatar 2022TM: Al Bayt Stadium
Knut Stockhusen Dipl-Ing Abdulla N. Alnuaimi Dr.Arch
Board Member and Managing Director, Schlaich bergermann partner, Teaching Assistant, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning,
Stuttgart, Germany Qatar University, Qatar
Christoph Paech Dipl-Ing Mohammed Z. E. B. Elshafie PhD
Managing Director, Schlaich bergermann partner, Stuttgart, Germany Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering,
(corresponding author: [email protected]) Qatar University, Qatar
Fernando Sima Dr-Ing Nasser A. Al-Nuaimi PhD
Director, Schlaich bergermann partner, Berlin, Germany Associate Professor and Associate Vice President for Research and
Srinivas Nallamothu MEng Graduate Studies, Qatar University, Qatar
Senior Design Manager, Galfar Al Misnad Engineering and Contracting
WLL, Qatar

In contemporary architecture, textile membranes offer a wide range of possible structural applications, especially for
facades and roofs with large spans and where the reduction of self-weight plays an important role for an efficient
and sustainable structural design. On 30 November 2021, the Al Bayt Stadium was inaugurated in Qatar; with its
190 000 m2 of textile membrane it is one of the biggest architectural membrane projects in the world. An innovative
new membrane material with a natural textile appearance was developed from scratch to meet the specific
requirements of the project. This makes the construction of Al Bayt Stadium, shaped like the local Bedouin tents, a
milestone in modern membrane architecture; this is attributable not only due to the pure size of the membrane, but
also to the significant advances made in textile membrane material design and development as part of the project.
Other design aspects include the large, retractable roof above the pitch, which transforms the open-air stadium into a
fully enclosed and temperature-controlled multi-purpose arena within minutes. This paper presents details of the
design and construction aspects of the stadium, as well as the material development conducted for the inner
membrane.
Keywords: adaptive/membrane/modularity/movable/precast concrete/stadium/structural design/structure/tensile properties/textile

1. Introduction reception rooms of Qatari dwellings. For the Qataris, these

The Al Bayt Stadium (Figure 1(a)) in the coastal city of patterns symbolise hospitality.
Al Khor, 50 km north of Doha, is designed to host 60 000
spectators. It hosted the opening ceremony of the FIFA World The roof and facade support structure of the Al Bayt
Cup Qatar 2022, held on 20 November 2022, along with Stadium consists of a steel truss with 72 radial lattice girders
several knockout matches up to the semi-finals. In its shape that cantilever up to 62 m above the stands. The geometry of
and appearance, the stadium resembles a traditional Bedouin the supporting structure is developed in such a way that a
tent (Figure 1(b)); the name Al Bayt is derived from the large Bedouin tent is created in the contour. The roof as well
Arabic ‘bayt al sha’ar’, a term used to describe the historic as the facade is covered with a polytetrafluoroethylene
Bedouin tents of the nomads in Qatar and the Gulf region. (PTFE)-coated glass fibre membrane. While the 70 000 m2
Other than functioning as dwellings, larger Bedouin tents in roof membrane is beige, the 30 000 m2 facade surface is
the gulf region are used for social gatherings and celebrations; divided into black and beige stripes (Figure 2). To ensure a
hosting the games in Al Bayt Stadium is a tribute to the permanent and weather-independent use of the stadium, a
Bedouin culture. The traditional tents consist of a simple convertible membrane roof of approximately 16 000 m2 can
timber support structure with external stay cables and a cover close the opening above the pitch if required. A fluoropoly-
made of woven fabrics. Typically, distinctive features of these mer-coated PTFE fabric was chosen for this membrane
dwellings include both special coloured patterns in the because of its excellent foldability and high translucency. This
woven fabrics of the outer shell and elaborate patterns in the allows a reduction in the use of turf lighting for the pitch by
fabrics of the inner lining. The outer fabrics usually have using direct solar radiation.
simple horizontal stripes in beige, brown or black, whereas
the textiles for the inner lining have elaborately Al Bayt Stadium is intended to be usable all year round. In
woven, graphic patterns of red, white, black and orange addition to its function as a football stadium, there are
stripes. These traditional fabrics with ‘Sadu’ patterns are still several additional areas and zones within the shell structure
used today as wall and ceiling decoration in living and that allow multifunctional use. In the long term, exhibition

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 Structures and Buildings The engineering legacy of the FIFA World
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Stockhusen, Paech, Sima et al.

(a)

(b)

Figure 1. (a) Exterior view of the stadium; (b) A traditional Bedouin tent

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 Structures and Buildings The engineering legacy of the FIFA World
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11.38
Support point
by concrete structure beam
1.200 7.400 8.600 3.600 5.350

Figure 4. Section of the temporary upper tier

Figure 2. Construction stage of facade membrane

service tunnel, as well as a series of piers. The bowl has
three tiers. The lower and middle tiers are made of
reinforced concrete.
& The upper tier is made of steel with precast concrete floor
plates.
& The tent roof structure comprises double-layer membrane
cladding.
& A retractable inner roof can be used to close the building
fully in order to protect the interior from environmental
conditions such as sun and rain.

More details are provided in the following sections.

2. Concrete bowl structure

The reinforced concrete bowl structure has seven levels in
Figure 3. Installation of precast concrete columns total. The lower two levels are buried in the ground and
provide access to the lower tier. The middle tier is accessed
through levels 5 and 6. The bowl superstructure with its con-
and sales areas, for example, will offer the possibility of later courses and floor space are entirely made of precast concrete
use beyond the time of the World Cup. To enable year-round to speed up the construction process and to have an improved
use, the entire volume within the envelope structure is fully visual appearance of the exposed concrete elements. For this
air-conditioned. This required ventilation and smoke extrac- purpose, a precast fabrication facility was erected on site to
tion ducts in the roof structure. In addition, there are large reduce the transportation times and to be able to react to the
numbers of walkways to access the technical equipment such site requirements at short notice. Not only the columns,
as floodlights, loudspeakers, utility lines in the void roof. A beams, rakers and stairs were made of precast elements, but
71 000 m2 sub-membrane visually conceals the technical also the stiffening core walls were prefabricated and lifted into
equipment and the massive ducts in the roof and creates a position. The joints between individual precast columns are
pleasant and uniform room enclosure. formed by steel anchor shoes. The beams are directly sup-
ported on the relevant corbels of the columns, where only a
The structure of the stadium can be divided into the following thin elastomer pad was used to balance out the local toler-
main components. ances. The slab elements are mainly hollow core slabs that are
directly supported on the beams. An in-situ topping layer on
& A reinforced concrete bowl structure includes foundations, the hollow core slabs and the beams provides the required dia-
a series of escape tunnels, two player tunnels and one phragm action for the overall bracing of the building.

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To reduce the total amount of individual lifts, columns were sufficient lateral stiffness to keep the dynamic performance of
prefabricated up to a length of 12 m – spanning several floors. the overall stand structure within acceptable limits.
Based on the high amount of prefabrication, up to 120 indivi-
dual precast elements were installed per day (Figure 3). To reduce the required lifting capacities during installation,
but especially for dismantling, instead of regular terrace
In plan view, the bowl structure is subdivided into eight seg- units made of concrete, a series of slender lightweight steel
ments that are separated by expansion joints. Each segment is I-section beams span between two adjacent raker beams
braced by stairwell cores and walls. Access for heavy vehicles (Figure 5). These ‘bleacher beams’ provide adequate support
to the stadium at level 0 and to the pitch is provided by three for only a 10 cm thick precast bleacher concrete slab, which
tunnels: the service tunnel which is 260 m long with clear also provides bracing for the slender bleacher beams at the
heights of 6 m and widths of 9.5 m as well as two player same time.
tunnels (each 215 m long) for direct team coach access. All
tunnels are interconnected with the ring road at level 0 within All assemblies between different structural elements are bolted
the bowl for deliveries and supplies. or pinned connections, allowing for easy dismantling and
possible re-assembly, if required. Similarly, all elements were
3. Temporary upper tier designed with optimised self-weight, enabling the use of small,
The intention was that after the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, lightweight lifting equipment when dismantling with a crane
the stadium capacity would be reduced to 30 000 seats. The hook capacity of maximum 2.5 t. The whole upper tier stand
modular design of the upper tier structure was designed to structure consists of eight individual segments separated by
facilitate a simple, fast and safe dismantling of the upper tier expansion joints that are above the expansion joints of the
in the legacy mode of the facility. In contrast to the lower bowl bowl structure. This created a total of three different geome-
structure, the upper tier was designed as a modular lightweight tries for the segments (corner, long, short). For fast installation
steel structure (Figure 4). The primary steel structure of the on site complete bays consisting of the columns, diagonals,
temporary upper tier consists of raker beams located in the rakers and bleacher beams were pre-assembled on the ground
main building axes. The raker beams are I-sections and are and lifted into position by crane (Figure 6(a)). The missing
supported by vertical circular steel columns at each main axis elements between two pre-assemblies were then installed with
of the building. Radial diagonals between the columns in com- smaller cranes one step at a time followed by the precast con-
binations with tangential bracings between the rakers provide crete bleacher slabs (Figure 6(b)).

Seats (horizontal variable position)

for detailed position refer to architect’s drawings

Welded I-beam Connection profile

verticlal fixed position

Stiffener behind Chair console (c /c = max 1.5 m)

every connection plate to be provided by chair supplier
Connection plate

Screwed connection
Welding stud (e.g. Kö co)

Stud welded to I-beam web

Steel raker beam

Figure 5. Bleacher beams

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resulting ridge lines between the peaks showcase the architec-

tural features of a traditional Bedouin tent geometry (Figure 7).

The highest peak at the ridge line is approximately 67 m high.

A total of 72 steel trusses with varying geometry form the
primary structure of the outer roof (69 000 m2 in area) and the
facade structure (46 000 m2 in area). The shape of each truss
is defined to create the required tent appearance from the
outside as well as have a smooth and homogeneous appearance
from the inside. The steel trusses are supported at the outer
perimeter on the ground directly, where they reach up vertically
for the facade and then span the outer concourses. A second
(a)
support adjacent to the outer perimeter of the upper tier is
used to balance the large cantilever of up to 62 m above the
stands (Figure 8).

A series of purlins span between the individual trusses; the

diagonally arranged bracing tubes provide sufficient lateral
stiffness for horizontal loads (Figure 9). Expansion joints
divide the double symmetrical outer roof structure in eight seg-
ments. These are aligned with the ones in the concrete bowl
structure.

The primary trusses and the purlins are used directly to fix the
membrane cladding. The number of trusses and the spacing of
the purlins have been optimised during the design process
in consideration of the structural membrane design and per-
(b) formance. The structural principle behind the roof and facade
structures is shown in Figure 10. Each truss is supported by
Figure 6. (a) Installation of individual segments of the temporary
a steel column on top of the concrete bowl as well as at the
upper tier; (b) Temporary upper tier structure with precast
bleacher slabs outer edge on the ground. Vertical forces – as, for example,
due to gravity loads or wind pressure – acting downwards on
the radial trusses result in a compressive force on the bowl and
a tensile force at the ground support. The overall bending
moment due to the force eccentricity is balanced by a pair
of vertical forces (shown in red in Figure 10). Horizontal
forces acting on the facade are transferred to the outer
support. The resulting global bending moment is balanced by
a pair of vertical forces (shown in green in Figure 10).

The outer roof membrane cladding comprised a 70 000 m2

beige coloured PTFE-coated glass fibre membrane with break-
ing strengths of 175 kN/m and 140 kN/m in the warp and fill
directions, respectively (Bögle et al., 2011; Goldack et al.,
2014; Paech and Stockhusen, 2018). The material strength as
well as the strength of the welds were tested according to the
procedure described within DIN EN ISO 1421:2017-03 (DIN,
Figure 7. Building information modelling (BIM) model of Al Bayt 2017). The tests were carried out at room temperature as well
Stadium
as at 70°C. The membrane design itself was carried out
according to the guidelines of the European Design Guide for
Surface Tensile Structures (Mollaert and Forster, 2004). The
4. Outer roof and facade structure membrane is directly clamped to the upper chords of the steel
The tent roof structure has plan dimensions of 311 m  273 m. trusses and the associated purlins. The pre-tension and geome-
The roof has four distinctive peaks in both, the east and west try of the individual panels has been defined in such a way
portions of the double symmetrical outer roof structure. The that the overall traditional tent appearance is preserved. To

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Figure 8. Section in east–west direction (top) and north–south direction (bottom)

In most stadia around the world, the outer roof provides some
shading of the pitch, so that a large amount of light is required
for turf growth (Göppert et al., 2011). Since solar radiation is
sufficiently available in Qatar, a smart solution was found to
reduce the need for growing lights by using an ethylene tetra-
fluoroethylene (ETFE) roof with a retractable lower blind
membrane. The south segmentern of the outer roof structure
above the stand was clad with a transparent ETFE, so that
even in winter a high proportion of natural radiation reaches
the pitch. In the summer months, the radiation must be
reduced and therefore a retractable lower blind was designed so
that complete shading can be provided if required. Compared
to the textile membrane, ETFE has a reduced strength and
Figure 9. Roof steel at erection stage
consequently an additional set of radial purlins had to be
installed to provide extra support for the ETFE.

identify the compensation values that are required for the 5. Retractable inner roof
cutting patterns, biaxial compensation tests were performed. One highlight of the Al Bayt Stadium is without doubt the
The test regime and duration took into account, on the one 16 000 m2 deployable and retractable inner roof above the field
hand, the required stress ratios under pre-stress and, on the of play, which transforms the open-air stadium into a fully
other hand, the expected stress variation during the lifetime enclosed multipurpose arena within 20 minutes. The ground
of the structure. For the 30 000 m2 facade a black and beige plan dimensions of the inner roof are approximately 95 m in the
PTFE-coated glass fibre membrane was used to reflect the tra- east–west direction and 160 m in the north–south direction.
ditional appearance of a tent. Individual membrane panels When the inner roof is closed, the bowl and the pitch are pro-
of up to 1200 m2 in size were prefabricated in the workshop, tected from weather conditions and are covered in full shade – a
lifted into position and installed on site (Figure 11). key requirement for a sustainable cooling strategy. With the

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Ecentricity
Retractable roof

Radial truss

Membrane Catwalk

Upper tier
+21.80 Level 108

+17.45 Level 107

+12.70 Level 106

+7.90 Level 105

+3.75 Level 104

+0.00 Level 103

–2.85 Level 102

–6.50 Level 101.5

–11.00 Field of play

–11.00

–12.50 Level 101

Figure 10. Structural concept of the roof and facade

Figure 11. Installation of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)–glass roof

membrane Figure 12. Retractable roof truss assembly stage

retractable inner roof, the temperatures on the stands as well as forces from the individual segments of the outer roof structure
on the pitch can be reduced to ensure sufficient comfort for from imposing additional loads on these lightweight moving
spectators and players even in summer with outside tempera- trusses. The trusses are shaped according to their moment
tures of up to 50°C. The inner roof therefore reduces the diagram, forming a three-chord truss with diagonals. The
required energy consumption for air-conditioning significantly. maximum height of the truss is 8 m in the centre. Two upper
chords are spaced 1.7 m c/c for the middle trusses and 2.2 m
The retractable roof is double symmetrical and consists of two c/c for the end trusses. The double upper chords are braced,
individual segments. Each segment consists of nine bow- forming a horizontal truss to prevent instabilities of the upper
shaped steel trusses that span 95 m above the field of play in chord under compression. In their deployed condition, the
the east–west direction. The trusses are single-span trusses that trusses are spaced approximately 10 m c/c. The trusses were
are supported on the outer roof structure to prevent global assembled on the ground (Figure 12) and then lifted into

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Figure 13. Driving carriage with rail structure of retractable roof Figure 15. Retractable roof in closed condition
during commissioning

at the trusses. Consequently, the membrane imposes significant

horizontal loads to each truss. To reduce the resulting bending
moments in the trusses and to achieve an optimised design,
four spreader arms were installed between every two adjacent
trusses to reduce the resulting forces. The spreader arms them-
selves are equipped with three hinges allowing them to fold
during the retraction process. All four spreader arms per bay
are linked to each other in the middle by a ridge cable. When
fully deployed, the ridge cable is fixed at the ends to restrain
the spreader arms in position (Figure 14).

During the retraction process, the restraint of the ridge cable is

released and the first steel truss is moved by the carriages
towards the second truss. The membrane becomes slack and
Figure 14. Moving trusses with spreader arms before membrane folds downwards due to its self-weight. When the first truss
installation reaches the second, both trusses move together towards the
third truss and so on. When fully retracted, the operable roof
is reduced to approximately 20.5 m  95 m for the north and
position from outside the stadium using a crawler crane of the south segments respectively. This corresponds to approxi-
1250 t capacity, which is one of the largest cranes in the world. mately 20% of the fully unfolded geometry of the operable
roof in plan view (Figure 15).
Membrane panels (cladding elements) made of a fluoropoly-
mer-coated PTFE were installed between the steel trusses’ A specific feature of the retractable roof at Al Bayt is that
membrane. Since the membranes were fixed to the bow-shaped both roof segments can be retracted and parked in the
upper chords, each panel had a double curvature to transfer northern part of the opening above the field of play. This is an
the relevant loading from wind, rain and sand in an efficient important aspect to improve the amount of solar radiation
manner. The individual trusses are supported by active driven required for grass growth the turf in the winter months when
carriages (Figure 13) on a rail that is directly supported on the the sun is relatively low (Göppert et al., 2013).
outer roof structure. Each carriage is equipped with an active
rack and pinion drive so that individual trusses can be moved
6. Innovative material development
along the rail. The drives at the carriages at both ends of each
truss are synchronised by the control system so that a parallel 6.1 Aesthetics
movement is always achieved. The fabric panels with the traditional Sadu pattern have a red
base colour, and the geometric patterns are woven in white
The pre-stressed membrane panels (when fully deployed) and black and partly in orange. The patterns run and repeat
between the trusses transfer all occuring loads (wind loads, in the warp direction of the fabric. On the bottom side of the
sand loads, etc.) by way of membrane action to their supports roof structure, the characteristic stripes were to run radially to

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(a)

Figure 17. Magnified section through polyester yarns with

PVC coating

stadium, especially for safety instructions, within appropriate

(b) limits.

Figure 16. (a) Printed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polyester

membrane; (b) Printed PVC polyester mesh membrane with 6.3 Material study
different background colours (close-up) As described above, various requirements for the membrane
material and its appearance were defined. Several material types
were investigated and compared in a detailed investigation.
the pitch. An aesthetically important aspect for the design is Glass/PTFE fabrics were excluded for the Sadu pattern due to
the appearance of a textile based on traditional fabrics. their limited colour selection as well as limited printability. In
contrast, a solid PVC-coated polyester membrane meets the
6.2 Required material properties mechanical requirements and can be printed with appropriate
The extreme climatic conditions in Qatar with maximum air patterns. However, it offers no textile surface structure or optics.
temperatures of over 50°C, which also occur seasonally in In addition, a sealing lacquer is required to ensure certain dura-
combination with high humidity, were a major challenge in bility of the printing. This makes the membrane appear very
terms of durability, but also in terms of the required static glossy, which takes the final product even further away from the
properties of a textile membrane. Since the material and weld appearance of a textile (Figure 16(a)). An acoustic study also
seam strength of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-coated polyester revealed that the required reverberation time with a solid sub-
membranes decreases at elevated temperatures, this had to be membrane would have to be classified as critical.
considered in the appropriate choice of material and also in
the material development (Cremers, 2015; Krüger, 2009). A printed PVC-coated polyester mesh membrane with open-
According to a static calculation for the relevant wind loads ings of approximately 2 mm in size has a textile appearance,
and the given steel structure, the material strength at 23°C even if the pattern does not match the mesh structure. The
should be at least 84 kN/m in the warp direction and 70 kN/m coloured print on a mesh membrane must also be protected
in the weft direction. In addition, the locally applicable regu- with a sealing lacquer with a gloss effect, as described above.
lations define very strict requirements for the fire behaviour of Acoustic testing showed that the reverberation time is
building materials that may be used in a place of assembly. improved compared to a solid membrane, but in some parts of
The membrane should at least comply with fire class B-s2-d0 – the roof additional acoustic insulation would have been
limited contribution to fire BS EN 13501-1:2018 (BSI, 2018). required on the back of the membrane. The visual appearance
Furthermore, the membrane should meet appropriate acoustic of the mesh membrane is influenced on the one hand by the
requirements to keep the reverberation time within the light conditions above the lower membrane, but also by a

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6.4 Manufacturing process and tissue structure of the

lower membrane
The basis for the patterned lower membrane is formed by
polyester threads with a sheathing PVC extrusion. The PVC
with appropriate antibacterial and fire-retardant additives, as it
is the case with a commonly used PVC/polyester membrane,
serves to protect the polyester thread from ultraviolet radiation
(Figure 17). Four different colours of the PVC-coated threads
were used for the weaving process with the Sadu patterning.

6.5 Weaving technique – jacquard pattern

Jacquard patterning is a joining technique that offered an
important extension in the design of woven and knitted fabrics
when it was invented in 1805 (Paech, 2016, 2019). Joseph-
Figure 18. Weaving of Sadu pattern using jacquard methodology Marie Jacquard invented a loom that made it possible to
control the position of each warp thread. For the first time, it
was possible to produce industrially woven fabrics with pat-
terns that could be repeated as often as desired, even complex
ones. At the same time, these looms, known as jacquard
looms, were the first machines that could produce fabric pat-
terns using punched cards. This made it possible to produce
fabrics with more complicated patterns. This weaving technique
is still widely used today in the textile industry to weave pat-
terned fabrics, although the punched cards used in the past
have been replaced by digital control. The application of this
technique for the Al Bayt Stadium described below is so far
unique in the construction sector (SBP, 2019).

In this technique, different coloured warp threads are first

rolled onto the so-called warp carrier. The colour arrange-
ment of the warp threads is determined depending on the
subsequent pattern. The weft thread is always black in the
selected pattern. With the digital jacquard control, before
Figure 19. Close-up photograph of the jacquard woven
the weft thread is pulled, the warp threads are set according
membrane
to the pattern, so that a predetermined number of warp
threads are skipped during weaving. Depending on the
pattern, up to seven warp threads are skipped. This technique
partially necessary acoustic insulation, so that a highly hetero-
results in the reverse fabric pattern, upper face on the under-
geneous appearance was to be expected. Figure 16(b) shows an
side of the fabric (Figure 18). In order to stabilise the loose
example of the appearance of the membrane on a light and on
fabric in its unity, while also considering the cutting and trim-
a dark background.
ming that is anticipated afterwards, the warp and weft threads
are subsequently heat-set without completely fusing the fabric
To ultimately achieve a woven and textile appearance, another
structure.
alternative was developed in collaboration with the membrane
supplier: a specially woven membrane made of colour-coated
single threads with a striking textile character. In contrast to 6.6 Material properties of the jacquard woven
the printed alternatives, the coloured, patterned, woven mem- membrane and tests
brane promised – high durability and colour stability. The The patterning has a significant influence on the material
material and surface properties also gave the membrane good properties of the woven membrane. Owing to the desired
acoustic properties, so that the reverberation time in the colour gradient, not every warp thread is bound to every weft
stadium could be maintained without further measures. thread, but individual warp threads can skip up to seven weft
Initially, simple and small-format prototypes with different pat- threads, as mentioned above. In these areas, the textile mem-
terns were produced in order to study the basic feasibility, brane has a locally increased stiffness in the warp direction, as
quality and appearance conceptually and to be able to develop the warp thread runs almost straight here and is less deflected
the product further accordingly. in its running direction (Figure 19).

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For the structural analysis and design of the membrane, an material had to meet particularly high requirements in terms of
anisotropic linear elastic approximation of the material proper- appearance and, due to the extreme climatic conditions, dura-
ties was considered. To capture the variation of stiffness within bility. As it is also the sub-membrane of a stadium roof, various
the pattern, the system was analysed using an upper and lower aspects such as fire safety requirements and acoustic properties
range of stiffness. All of the generated results of this engineer- had to be considered. These special requirements could not be
ing approach were used for the relevant design verifications. met by an existing material, which is why a new material had to
be developed from scratch for the Al Bayt Stadium. For this
Not only the stiffness is influenced by the different patterning, purpose, various manufacturing processes were run through,
but also the tensile strength of the material (Göppert and different materials were tested and finally the developed material
Paech, 2015). In addition, due to the different stiffness distri- was made ready for use. This time-consuming process was only
bution, there are stress redistributions within the fabric, which possible with a well-coordinated team in which everyone could
must be considered in the structural design. Uniaxial tensile contribute their individual expertise. The interdisciplinary team
tests as well as biaxial tests in the warp and weft directions of engineers, architects and manufacturer entrusted with the task
were carried out at eight different locations of the continuous was only able to fulfil all the necessary requirements for the
pattern to quantify these influences. In the tests, the tensile fabric optimally through this collaborative working method. In
strength was determined, as well as the corresponding elong- the future, there will be even more diverse applications in roof
ation stiffness and stiffness ratios. The minimum tensile and facade construction, for which this innovative material is
strength determined in the tests at room temperature as a func- ideally suited because of its properties.
tion of the pattern for 10 cm wide samples was approximately
84 kN/m in the warp direction and 70 kN/m in the weft direc- Acknowledgements
tion. The corresponding mechanical behaviour of weld seams The authors would like to acknowledge the general contractor
was also tested. The weld strength was approximately 90% of GSIC (Joint Venture Galfar al Misnad, Salini-Impregilo,
the material strength at room temperature and fell to approxi- Cimolai), the architect gmp architects, structural design and
mately 76% of the material strength at 70°C. For the structural design of the retractable roof sbp (schlaich bergermann part-
design and verification, the worst-case stress results of the stiff- ners), manufacturer Serge Ferrari and MEP designers ME
ness variation analysis were compared with the minimum Engineers. The authors are also very grateful for the cooperat-
material strength achieved for all the different areas of the ion and support received from The Supreme Committee for
pattern. A global safety factor of 4.5 was assumed for the Legacy and Delivery throughout the process of writing this
design. This factor takes into account possible aging, tempera- paper; the effort and support of Eng. Hilal Al-Kuwari, Eng.
ture effects, biaxial actions and material safety, and includes Othman Zarzour, Eng. Tamim El-Abed and Eng. Mohemed
the required partial safety factors of the loads. In addition, fire Ahmed are acknowledged in particular.
behaviour tests were carried out. These confirmed that the
specially woven membrane can be classified as B-s2-D0 REFERENCES
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